Russia names Volgograd suicide bombers, arrests 2 alleged accomplices

MOSCOW
-- Russia has identified two
suicide bombers responsible for attacks that killed 34 people in the city of Volgograd last month and arrested two
suspected accomplices in violence-torn Dagestan province, officials said on
Thursday.

The
National Anti-Terrorism Committee said the bombers, whose attack raised fears
of further violence before the Sochi Winter Olympics next week, were members of
a militant group in Dagestan in the restive North Caucasus.

The
blasts were the deadliest attacks in Russia
outside the North Caucasus, the cradle of an Islamist insurgency whose leader
has urged fighters to prevent the Olympics going ahead, since a bomber killed
37 people at a Moscow airport in 2011.

The
National Anti-Terrorism Committee identified the bombers as Asker Samedov and
Suleiman Magomedov, called them members of the “Buinaksk Terrorist Group,"
and said it had known their names for some time.

Buinaksk
is a city in Dagestan.

A video
posted on the Internet last week by a group identifying itself as Vilayat
Dagestan featured what it said were the Volgograd
bombers donning explosive belts and warning President Vladimir Putin to expect a “present” at the Olympics. The video named the men only as Suleiman and
Abdulrakhman.

An image taken from videoposted online by a group identifying itself as VilayatDagestan shows the Volgogradsuicide bombers, identified in the video only as Suleiman andAbdulrakhman.

CBS

Two
brothers suspected of helping send the bombers to Volgograd were detained in Dagestan on Wednesday, the committee also
said. It identified them as Magomednabi and Tagir Batirov and said the
investigation was continuing.

The
news comes amid a major security crackdown on suspected militants in the region.
Officials have raided various locations in the Sochi region, claiming earlier
in January to have killed seven militants -- including an alleged “black widow”
female would-be suicide bomber -- in a raid in Dagestan.

On
Thursday -- in sharp contrast to myriad warnings from foreign governments and
security analysts over the risk of terror attacks on the global sporting event --
the man in charge of security for the Sochi Games said “a real threat to the Games does not exist.”

Speaking
at a news conference in Sochi, Alexey Lavrishev insisted there were no
indications from Russian intelligence, or the “information of our partners”
suggesting a direct threat to the event.

“The
existing forces present today in the region around the Olympics are prepared to
react to any threats to safety and will not allow the carrying out of any
hostile acts against participants or guests of the Olympic Games."

Asked
about the unrest in Dagestan, Lavrishev said the restive region was “pretty far away (from Sochi),” and insisted the situation there
was “under control.”